Ahead of Heathers: The Musical arriving on The Roku Channel (in the US and Canada) on September 16th, I had the chance to sit down with and interview Director Andy Fickman (The Game Plan, She’s The Man) to discuss all things Heathers, social media, working with Bette Midler, and his thoughts on the infamous Riverdale musical episode featuring the music from Heathers: The Musical.
Andy Fickman Video Interview
Interview Transcript
AF: How are you?
JMJ: Do you know what, I am amazing! I am very excited. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed Heathers.
AF: Oh, thank you!
JMJ: No worries. I’ve been unlucky that I’ve not been able to go down to the West End and see it [Heathers] at The Other Palace. My favourite thing, apart from the show, was the amount of times you get to see the audience throughout this performance and just how much it means to them. So many people dressed up, and it just makes it that much more special, how important this musical is [for the fans]. So, congratulations on that.
AF: I mean, I so appreciate you saying that. That was a big part of our thought process was you know you can do these stage captures so many different ways and a lot of times, people choose to cut off the audience and sort of just cameras on the stage, and we felt with our fan base, especially in the UK. Since 2018, I always tell every time we have a new cast member, I said that the audience is the Fifth Beatle, like they are what makes it – it’s not just a show, it’s an event. They come dressed up and we call our fans the “corn nuts” because they are a part of our world, and we’ve gotten to know so many of them over the years. They’re friends now, we know their personal stories. I didn’t want to film something that people would not get to experience what it’s like if you go to The Other Palace. That is what happens when you go – People are dressed, and the crowd is rowdy and it’s a rock concert!
JMJ: I’m familiar with the soundtrack, and I think TikTok has played a big part in this show’s success. I frequently see the show, fans and obviously some of the cast as well. How big a part has social media played, especially with the West End’s run?
AF: I think it’s as big as anything. When we came here for initial reading in 2017, Kevin, Larry and I didn’t know if anyone in London or the UK knew Heathers. We didn’t know. Like, do you know the movie? Our New York album was out, but we didn’t know anybody knew the songs. Then we did this reading, and we were sold out, like we sold out overnight. By the time we did the first production in 2018 with Carrie Hope Fletcher, we understood that the social media aspect – people were talking online about the show. People were talking, there was an engagement happening that enabled you to not just see a show, “Thanks, good time. Go on with your day”. You kept engaging in it, and every day we’d find more people sending us photos or stuff that they had built and created. We loved that.
AF: Then TikTok, all of a sudden, we saw from celebrities to grandmothers to little kids doing these dorky dances to our songs – it went viral so quickly. It’s always that notion of, you can’t make something go viral, you can’t create something and be like, “Oh, I put all my Frankenstein elements, and now here you go, viral”. That doesn’t happen. But the fans took it, and I feel very beholden to our fans. I feel when we do a show, if the audience applauds and laughs, then I’ve done my job and our cast has done their job.
JMJ: How excited were you when you found out that Heathers would be getting a recorded edition? What was that process like from the start? Was it always something you wanted to do?
AF: We’ve been so thankful for everything Bill Kenwright has provided for us in the UK and Paul Taylor Mills, and then our partners at Village Roadshow said, “Hey, how would you feel about a stage capture?”, and Kevin, Larry and I didn’t even blink. We were like, “Yes”. Then Roku got involved. and I think our biggest concern was wanting to do the stage capture the way you saw it. To be able to, you know, when we presented it back to everyone and say, “Okay, but we want to we want to show the audience and we want to be in the theatre, and we want it to not feel sterile. We want it to feel like you’re active and we want to hear them the way they naturally respond”. Once nobody said No to that, we’re like, well, I’ll sign that.
JMJ: I did some research on the Internet, and obviously, you were, I believe, a Development Exec on the first Hocus Pocus. I’ve got to ask, obviously, the second film releases at the end of the month. How excited are you?
AF: I am so beyond excited because I was a Development Exec. I was working with Bette Midler at All Girl Productions, and so when Hocus Pocus came out, I mean, it became such a cult hit over the years. I’m so proud. I got to work with Bette on a movie called Parental Guidance with Billy Crystal. So, then I got to work with her, and then I got to direct her. So now that the movie is coming out, directed by the wonderful Anne Fletcher, I will be the first person just leaning forward readily to watch the Sanderson Sisters.
JMJ: Obviously, you mentioned Parental Guidance, and I couldn’t do this interview and not mention it. That film is a very sentimental film. I had many summer vacations spent with my grandparents, and it is a swan song (*Disclaimer: I meant to use the phrase “love letter” but my brain chose otherwise) for me. I have so many fantastic memories with them, and that film is just, I think it’s a perfect film. I’ve seen it quite a few times. It’s great. Yeah. Thank you for that.
AF: I so appreciate it. It was based on an original idea that had happened to Billy Crystal as a grandparent. Putting it all full circle, when we opened off-Broadway in New York on opening night, there was Billy Crystal there to come support, and it was such a wonderful treat to go full circle like that.
JMJ: Obviously, this is the first West End production to have a shoot for a while. Is there any show in the West End right now that you’d like to see get a recorded edition?
AF: Probably any show on the West End, I would jump up and down. A lot of it is the cast. You know, I’d love to see Wicked, love to see Frozen. I’d love to see Moulin Rouge. What I have fallen in love with my adopted home in London is that the level of performers is so spectacular, and they bring something to each and every performance. Nothing sort of half-assed, not that they do on Broadway and stuff, but there are definitely shows that can run for a long time and everybody feels like maybe they’re clocking in. On the West End, I find everybody does a great job, and so many people in Heathers have gone on to shows on the West End – that makes me exceptionally happy.
JMJ: There’s one final question, a bit of a silly one, but I couldn’t speak to you and not ask, what did you think of The CW’s Riverdale‘s Heathers special in 2019?
AF: Well. First of all, it’s always an honour when somebody wants to come and take your music and they licensed it. They did it all the right way. You know, it was the first time that that Heathers had been done in a medium that we weren’t involved in, and so a lot of it was sitting back and watching to somebody else’s eyes. Up to that point, I had not been privy, I hadn’t been watching a lot of Riverdale. So after that, I kind of had to go back and start being like, I think I’ll understand this more if I watch this, because when I was watching, I was like, “I think there’s a cult. I think this is happening”. So, I realise I probably didn’t watch it with the right concept, but then I went back and educated myself and I was able to enjoy it on a whole other level once I knew what was happening, I should’ve have watched it more going into it.
JMJ: It is a bizarre show. I did zone out a few years ago, but it was. It’s quite something else.
JMJ: What’s next for you, is there a film you working on? Is there another musical perhaps?
AF: Both. I’m developing in the UK, a musical based on the movie 13 Going on 30 and very excited. The original screenwriters Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa are writing the book, and Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, the team behind First Date are writing the music and lyrics, and I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Then I just finished a movie that’s a Romantic Dramedy based on a book called One True Loves, and that stars Simu Liu, Phillipa Soo and Luke Bracey. I’m finishing the editing now and hopefully that will come out early next year.
Deliciously, darkly funny, romantic and moving, HEATHERS is a truthful, uplifting parable for anyone who’s ever been in love, in trouble, or in high school. Stream for FREE on The Roku Channel in the US and Canada on September 16
You can watch the trailer below:
